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Originally Posted by catcatch22 |
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During the late 60's and early 70's teams started using more finesse running backs that killed the 4-3 defenses. Gale Sayers and O.J. Simpson for example. Back then most teams ran with power Fullbacks. However not everyone bought into the trend of speed backs because just like today many thought a speed back can't last a season let alone a career in the NFL. So teams ran combos of Power and speed with the power back being the main runner. A lot of them were right since O.J. had some very injury plagued seasons after a few legendary ones, as well as Sayers.
Those backs killed 4-3 defenses because the 4 defensive lineman were no match for their speed and agility.
They could not stop them with only 3 linebackers. Teams then switched up and went to the 3-4 to stop the finesse backs because they needed an extra linebacker to keep up with them and contain them (that still did not work to well). At least that is what I was told when I was in high school.
Here is some quotes from others on other websites.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5...-3-vs.-the-3-4
Here is another
http://football.calsci.com/DefensiveLine3.html
This is why they say Lawrence Taylor revolutionized the Outside Linebacker position. Never before has an outside linebacker been so influential to not just the run defense but his pass rushing skills changed what it meant to be an Linebacker.
Defensive coordinators could not get another Taylor or another prodigy like Derrick Thomas or Kevin Greene types who could do it all and just plain rush the passer like those guys. So in the 80's to 90's teams came up with an idea of making everyone a Lawrence Taylor and blitz not just the outside linebackers but everyone. The Giants did this a bit with their linebackers but I think Pittsburgh took it an extra step and would drop lineman into coverage. A new buzzword in the NFL of zone blitzing was now popular.
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"...The 3-4 defense originated in the 1940s by legendary Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson, in part to compensate for a lack of depth on the defensive line, the 3-4 scheme was slow to make its way to the NFL, and actually might not have gained popularity were it not for the 1970 merger with the AFL.
Many of the AFL teams deployed the 3-4 front and brought it with them in the merger and, by the early 1980s, approximately two-thirds of NFL franchises were deploying it as their primary defense. Even former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll, who had won four Super Bowl titles with the conventional four-man front as his base defense, moved to the 3-4 late in his career.
The preponderance of 3-4 fronts was, in part, attributable to the difficulty in locating defensive linemen. But just as much, it was because coaches believed the 3-4 scheme lent them more flexibility and could be better camouflaged. Because it permitted coaches to employ hybrid-type defenders on the edge -- often undersized college defensive ends who could make the transition to linebacker and play in a two-point stance -- the 3-4 offered the chance to place attacking rushers closer to the line of scrimmage. Most of the great 3-4 linebackers, in fact, have been up-field players capable of attacking the pocket.
But the defense, which requires bigger defensive ends and a nose tackle who can anchor the interior, has also been effective against the run. It is a confusing scheme, difficult to play against because not as many teams use it now, and because it demands that blocking schemes be altered.
In the 1980s and '90s, NFL teams seemed to move away from the 3-4 and back to the more traditional four-linemen scheme. But the success of long-time 3-4 teams (such as Pittsburgh), and coaches (like Bill Belichick of New England), has promulgated a kind of revisiting of the defense. Coaches like the versatility of the front and, as always, it seems easier to locate 240-pound defenders who can chase the ball than it is to unearth a lot of 300-pound linemen.
Two of the three 12-1 teams in the league, New England and Pittsburgh, use the 3-4 look. Three of the four division leaders in the AFC employ it. In all, six teams use the 3-4 as their primary defense now and another four or five teams this year incorporated it into their defensive packages."
-- Len Pasquarelli
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...end/2004week15
If you Believe that Bud Wilkinson created the 3-4 defense in the 1940’s, then you know that he created the 3-4 before OJ Simpson and fast backs made it to the NFL in the 1970’s. Therefore, the 3-4 defense was not created specifically to stop backs like O.J Simpson. I was responding to your statement indicating that the 3-4 defense was designed to stop the running game.